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A Guide to Evaluating Vaccine Information for Legislators

As new vaccine bills are proposed, our state legislators, few who are doctors, are often put in a unique position of making decisions that could affect whether or not our kids are at risk to get a vaccine preventable disease.

Does House Majority Leader Lee Qualm have any idea why we ever started to have school vaccination requirements?
Does House Majority Leader Lee Qualm have any idea why we ever started to have school vaccination requirements?

Yes at risk, since outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases could certainly increase as some of these vaccine bills actually weaken existing vaccine laws.

A Guide to Evaluating Vaccine Information for Legislators

It is easy to see why some Legislators are looking to strengthen their state’s vaccine laws, as they had likely been seeing a rise in vaccine hesitancy, with a corresponding rise in outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases.

But why would a Legislator want to make it easier for unvaccinated kids to go to school?

“I’m not opposed to vaccines, but I believe it should be up to the parents.”

South Dakota House Majority Leader Lee Qualm

When you hear them talk, it is easy to see that they have often been misled by the same misinformation and propaganda about vaccines that leads some vaccine hesitant parents to skip or delay their child’s vaccines.

If we see a COVID-19 pandemic, most of us will welcome a new vaccine to protect our families.
If we see a COVID-19 pandemic, most of us will welcome a new vaccine to protect our families.

This includes the ideas that:

Of course, none of these things we crossed out are true, but they are all ideas pushed by folks who lobby these politicians. These folks also push misinformation about mutant measles, herd immunity, untested vaccines, unavoidably unsafe vaccines, and that vaccines have never been tested for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential.

Who is educating your state legislators about vaccines?
Who is educating your state legislators about vaccines?

Unfortunately, a very vocal minority of parents who want to send their intentionally unvaccinated kids to school are getting extra attention in state houses because the great majority of parents who do vaccinate their kids don’t show up to advocate for vaccines.

Why not?

For many, it’s simply hard to believe that there are actually people out there fighting against vaccines!

It is easy to see why some Legislators might be tricked by slick anti-vaccine talking points in these meetings.
It is easy to see why some Legislators might be tricked by slick anti-vaccine talking points in these meetings.

As difficult as it might be, our Legislators need to be prepared when these folks come with their talking points against vaccines.

What about the rights of children who can’t be vaccinated and have true medical exemptions?

Otherwise we will end up with more bad vaccine bills that will put our kids at risk.

Pennachio and Testa want to opt out of the federal Vaccine Count and NVICP and recreate it on the state level???
Pennachio and Testa want to opt out of the federal Vaccine Count and NVICP and recreate it on the state level???

What’s wrong with these types of vaccine bills?

For one thing, they do nothing to make kids safer and they simply put extra steps in the way of getting kid vaccinated and protected.

Arizona state Sen. Paul Boyer told CNN he co-sponsored three of the bills after hearing from parents who said their children were hurt by vaccines. He felt the state was “not engaging in fully informed consent.”

Even with measles outbreaks across the US, at least 20 states have proposed anti-vaccination bills

Again, many simply echo talking points against vaccines about vaccine inserts (no one is hiding them…), liability, VAERS (information on reporting vaccine reactions is on every vaccine information sheet parents get), informed consent, and vaccine injury stories.

Lawrence Palevsky has been described as "an antivaccine pediatrician who’s an endless font of misinformation." Is this who your legislators are listening to?
Lawrence Palevsky has been described as “an antivaccine pediatrician who’s an endless font of misinformation.” Is this who your legislators are listening to?

And that’s not surprising, considering who gives these Legislators (mis)information about vaccines. Folks like Bobby Kennedy, Larry Palevsky, Ginger Taylor, Rita Palma, and the NVIC, etc., who also help to derail good vaccine bills.

“You don’t have to be a scientist or part of an organization to spread the word about the importance of immunizations. You can make an impact on vaccine-preventable diseases in your own community.”

Vaccinate Your Family – Make a Local Impact

We don’t have to let these folks them shape vaccine bills and policy though.

“A decision not to vaccinate is not just an individual decision. Because these diseases are spread from person to person, the decision to leave a child unvaccinated not only leaves that child susceptible to vaccine-preventable diseases, but permits the spread of those diseases to the surrounding community, including infants too young to be immunized and those suffering from immunodeficiency conditions.”

An Open Letter to Congress On Immunization Policy

Let your legislators know that you want strong vaccine laws that keep all of us protected from vaccine preventable diseases.

More on Vaccine Information for Legislators

1 thought on “A Guide to Evaluating Vaccine Information for Legislators”

  1. Did you watch the proceedings of the WHO vaccine Safety Summit held in December of last year? What I heard from almost EVERY SINGLE scientist on there was that we are recycling old science and that they did not have enough evidence to say with certainty that vaccines are safe or effective. According to these acclaimed scientists there needs to e more dialogue and more science to be done. These are the same people who not too long ago said that people who do not vaccinate are a threat to global health. So much for that I guess.

    Then I look at the enormous amount of time that you have spent to promote vaccination and call everyone and anyone who dares to question the safety of vaccines a quack, or anti-vaccine zealot or some other derogatory name and shut down any dialogue or the need to investigate more. When it comes to medicine, hanging onto a 200+ year theory and in the very face of individualized medicine, pushing for a one size fits all vaccination program itself makes me really wonder who or what you are and if I can even take anything you say seriously. People are getting their information from the very sources you get yours and are reaching conclusions from peer-reviewed science. If you call the science that fits your agenda as the only science and anything that does not fit fake, then you have effectively cornered yourself into a position where you are no longer taken seriously by anyone who can read.

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